Building construction.



A. J. ANDERSON. BUILDING CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILEDPEC-II. I914.

- Patented June 2?, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A. J. ANDERSON.

- BU ILDING comsr-nucnow.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-17' 1914.

1 ,1 88,604. I 5 Patented June 27, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. 1117761??? Liz/7616719071 ANDREW J. ANDERSON, OF KEWANEE, IIiLINOIS.

- BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2'7, 1916.

Application filed December 17 1914. Serial No. 877,833.

To all whom it may concern. 4

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. ANDERSON,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Kewanee, in the county of Henry and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Building Construction, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention has reference to certain improvements in building construction of that type in which the walls are built up from formed blocks of standard shape and size, which blocks are adapted to lock together to produce the completed wall. The invention has reference more particularly to a building construction of this type in which the completed wall will be hollow, having air passages or openings on its interior portion, thereby making the wall of light construction and from a minimum amount of material and at a minimum weight.

Another object of the invention has reference to the provision of a construction such that the building blocks may be readily locked together by use of rods or the like, and without the necessity of laying the blocks in cement. In this connection an object is to so form the blocks that the rods will tie. together blocks of both the inner and outer faces of the wall as well as blocks of the consecutive courses. This will insure a wall of great rigidity and strength combined with a minimum amount of labor in its construction and combined with the use of a minimum amount of material.

Another object of the invention is to provide blocks of special form for providing a finished end construction for the accommodation of window and door casings and the like. These special blocks, nevertheless, are standard to the extent that they may be locked together, and may be locked to the running portions of the wall by the use of rods so that the general form of the construction will be standard throughout. They are also standard to the extent that in turning a corner the air space of the two adjoining walls is continuous.

Other objects and uses will appear from a detailed description of the invention which consists in the featuresof constructioifand arrangements and relationships of blocks straight runs joined by an intermediateolfsetting section, and provided with a pair of apertures for the reception of window or door casings. In this figure some of the courses of blocks are broken away to show the blocks of the lower courses; Fig. 2 is a section taken on the, line 22 of Fig. 1, g

looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary face view of the portion of*- the wall showing particularly the aperture for the window or door casing; Fig. 4

is .a perspective view of the standard form of running block; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a terminal block; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a block for turning a corner.

In order to facilitate an understanding of the manner in which the blocks are set together, I will first describe the constructions shown in Figs. 4:, 5 and 6. The standard running block has its major portion of whatever thickness may be desired, as indicated by the end portions 7 and 8 of Fig. 4:. These portions are relatively thin so as to reduce the amount of raw material necessary, and also to lighten the construction. The central portion of the block is provided with a rib or the like 9 which extends across the block transversely. This rib is provided with a vertically extending hole 10 for'the reception of the tie rod presently to be explained, said hole being set in a distance from the outer surface 11 of the block approximately equal to one-half the desired ultimate thickness of the wall. The central portion of the rib 9 is provided with an outstanding lug or the like 12 having a vertical slot or channel 13. At each end the block is provided with a centrally placed lug 14. The function and the purpose of the lugs 12 and 14 and of the slot or channel 13 will presently appear. Referring now to Fig. 1, the manner in which these running blocks are to be set together will be apparent. Considering the central or off-setting portion ofthe wall there are illustrated the blocks 15,16 and 17 on the upper course. The blocks on one side of each course break joints with the blocks on the other side of the same course. That is to say the blocks 16 and 17 break joints with the blocks 15. Therefore, the lug 12 of the block 15 seats solidly against the end portions of the blocks 16 and 17, and the channel 13 of-the block 15 engages the lugs 14 of the blocks 16 and 17. It therefore appears that the lug 12 serves to space the inside and outside blocks with respect to each other and at the same time serves to lock the consecutive thus appears that the'ribs of consecutive courses reach into the wall from opposite directions, alternating with each other so that the holes 10 of the consecutive levels register with each other to provide a vertically extending hole reaching the full height of that portion of the wall in which the construction is standard. Having built up a number of courses in the manner above described, a. tie rod 19 may be dropped down through the vertically extending hole so as to lock theblocks together. It will be apparent that when this is done each outside block is directly locked to inside blocks immediately above and below it, and that each inside block is directly locked to outside blocks immediately above and below it. It will also be noted that the rods 19 are spaced one-half block length apart so that a perfect locking of the wall is secured and sothat an extremely rigid and permanent structure is obtained. After the insertion of the tie rods 19, grouting 20 may be poured down around them so as to secure a more perfect and solid completed structure. It will be observed that the lugs 12 project only from the central portion of their ribs 9. As a consequence, when the structure has been completed there will be air passages 21 extending along the wall in a zigzag fashion, and sa1d passages will not be completely severed at any point by means of the lugs.

In Fig. 5 is illustrated a terminal block such as may be used for providing a finished end to the wall, as for example where a wlndow or door casing is to be located. In this case the block is provided with the end port on 8 on one side of the rib 9, but at the other side of the rib the block is finished off to provide a facing surface 22, and the length of said surface is preferably made equal to the width of the completed wall which is twice the distance from the surface 11 to the hole 10. For this purpose an extension 23 is provided on the surfaced portion 22. The manner of applying this block is well illustrated in Fig. 1 wherein it will be observed that it simply takes the place of the running block on one'side of that course of the wall. The hole 10 of the terminal block registers with the holes 10 above and below it, whether said holes be the holes of running blocks or terminal blocks. From an examination of Fig. 5 it will be observed that the extension 23 provides a shoulder 24. Into this shoulder seats one .arm of the running block 25 so as to close the wall at this point.

In Fig. 6 I have illustrated a corner block of standard construction and which can be used in conjunction with the running and terminal blocks previously described. The corner block has the arm portion 26 and the rib portion 27 in which is the hole 2 8. A shoulder 29 is formed close to the rib 27. The application of this type of block is well illustrated in Fig. 1 wherein the corner block 30 of the upper courses is illustrated in conjunction with a running block 31 of the same course. The rim portion of the running block seats into the recess or shoulder 29 of the corner block. In the courses above and below the one illustrated the arrangement is reversed. Thus in the course below there lies the running block 32 beneath the corner block 30. A rod 33 is dropped down through the registering holes 28 so as to lock all of the corner blocks together.

It will be observed from an examination of Fig. 1 that the right hand arm of the running block 17 and the left hand arm of the running block 32 are of unusual length so that they seat into the adjacent corner blocks. This extra length is necessitated by reason of the fact that these blocks must END seat into the shoulders 29 of the corner blocks. However, in manufacturing the running blocks a proper percentage of them can be made with one arm of unusual length so as to meet this contingency. It will also be observed that the end portions of certain of the running blocks illustrated in Fig. 1 have been broken away. This is because the inside arms of the running blocks on the inner surfaces of a corner do not need to be of full length, and I have illustrated them as being broken off so as not to obstruct the continuity of the air passages.

While I have herein shown and described only one form of each of the three standard blocks, still it will be observed that many changes in details of construction may be made without departing from the scope of my invention. What I contemplate particularly is the use of the lugs provided with the vertically extending holes for the reception of the tie rods so as to tie the blocks of various courses and of both the inner and outer surfaces of the wallsolidly together, said lugs also serving, as another feature of the invention, at times to space the blocks of the inner and outer courses the desired distance apart.

I claim:

1. In a building construction the combination of a plurality of inner and outer courses of blocks, the blocks of the inner courses breaking joints with each other vertically and the blocks of the outer courses breaking joints with each other vertically, and the vertical joints of each inner and outer course of blocks standing opposite to the central portions of the blocks of the opposite courses, each block having a central vertical rib of lesser horizontal dimension than the distance between the inner surfaces of the opposite courses of blocks, and each block having a central lug projecting from the rib thereof and into contact with the end portions of the blocks of the opposite course, means for locking each of said lugs to the end portions of the said blocks, and tie rods extended vertically through the ribs of inner and outer consecutive'courses of blocks.

2. In a building construction the combi-.

nationof a plurality of inner and outer courses of blocks, the blocks of the inner courses breaking joints vertically and the blocks of the outer courses breaking joints vertically, and the vertical joints of each course standing opposite to the central portions of blocks of opposite courses, spacing means projecting from the central portion of each block toward and into engagement with the end portions of adjacent blocks of the opposite course, each of said spacing means being of lesser vertical dimension than the vertical dimension of the block from which it projects, means for locking each of said spacing means to the end portions of the blocks which it engages, and tie rods extended vertically through consecutive spacing means of inner and outer courses.

3. In a building construction the combination of a plurality of inner and outer courses of blocks, the vertical joints of consecutive inner courses breaking joints and the vertical joints of consecutive outer courses also breaking-joints, the central portions of the blocks standing opposite to vertical joints of blocks of opposite courses, spacing means extending from the central portions of the blocks into contact with the end portions of opposite blocks, each spacing means being of lesser vertical dimension than the block from which it projects, and tie rods extending vertically through consecutive spacing means of inner and outer courses. a

ANDREW J. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

LYLE ROBINSON, SUSAN D. JONES. 

